Friday, September 30, 2011

Payton -- redeemed but still not schoolworthy

(Updated and revised) I’m not about to throw the flag yet on Jeff Pearlman’s new book, “Sweetness -- the enigmatic life of Walter Payton.” Judging by the lengthy excerpt in the current Sports Illustrated, it appears to be a well written, exhaustively reported and balanced look at the complicated life of a superstar.

If anything, what I’ve read so far raises him in my mind from the cartoonish egomaniac and gun-happy nightclub owner he appeared to become after he retired from the Bears. Payton was clearly a man in all kinds of pain, and if the people who loved him have forgiven him, who are the rest of us to judge him harshly now?

Nevertheless – not therefore – I continue to question the appropriateness of Chicago having named one of its top high schools for him.

It was just weeks after his death in November, 1999 that schools CEO Paul Vallas announced said the new selective-enrollment academy then being built on the Near North Side would be called Walter Payton College Prep because Payton had led an "exemplary life" and had a certain work ethic."

All the suggestions on how to make Payton's name and legacy endure are as wonderful as they are insufficient. ...The echo of a life so large and so inclusive cannot be allowed to fade too fast. ...Emulating Payton's work ethic, his selflessness, his modesty, his sacrifice--these are all worth doing. To be Paytonesque is not a costume change, it is an attitude adjustment.

But then as now, sticking his name on an elite high school seemed like a hasty, sentimental decision that won’t stand the judgment of time. Parks, streets, gyms or even stadiums named for star athletes, sure --- where, by the way, are the naming honors for Michael Jordan, arguably a more significant talent than Payton? – but schools are different.

Posted at 09:03:00 PM

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I don't have a problem with a high school being named after Walter Payton. His level of excellence at his chosen profession is a model for which we all should aspire. The fact that he was far from a perfect human being does not change what he accomplished on the field. It would be misguided to try to now change the name of the high school in light of this book.

In his public life, Walter Payton was a class act, a role model, and the embodiment of many values that our society should hold in high esteem. Like JFK, or Martin Luther King, Jr., or practically anyone, there are private issues that probably should remain private. I'm not sure if I would name a school after him (maybe a football field or a park would be more fitting) but that quibble aside, I don't think that these tabloid-style revelations should taint his legacy.

I'm not even sure why the book's revelations are so bad. He wasn't faithful to his spouse, with whom he achieved resolution with at the end of his life, according to her interview today. He took painkillers, because, after all, he was in pain. He has thoughts of suicide, which he successfully fought against. Against all that, he reached the heights of his profession, wrote poetry, did countless deeds of compassion and good-will for friends and strangers alike, and treated others with kindness. He made mistakes, and tried to resolve many of them. Where, exactly is the problem here with regards to a school named in his honor?

He was a great athlete and led a stellar public life. He was well respected on and off the football field. His private issues does not take away from his accomplishments and public persona which garnered him the honor of having a Chicago Public School named after him.

Personally, I find the author of this book far more despicable than any trangressions he alleges of Mr. Payton. And why all the headlines say something to the effect of "Payton was a heavy drug user". That's misleading because it leads one to believe that cocaine or heroin was involved until you actually read the story.

I do not object to the sports angle or his character so much as to the lack of nativeness (is that a word?). Payton did not grow up in Chicago or attend Chicago schools. There is no high school or grade school named for George Halas, who attended Crane Technical from 1910-13. Halas would have been a better choice.

It shouldn't be an issue to name a school after Payton. Everyone has their own personal demons, that's not the issue. It's how you combat those demons that show a human being's true character and Walter did just that. A school is a rather odd thing to name a football player after though. Like Greg J. said, a park or a field would suffice.

Tim H., I'm with you. Payton's been dead for twelve years. Why is the author raking all this stuff up now? It'll provide grist for the soap opera/reality TV crowd, who are really of no consequence, but it causes pain for those who were near to Payton.

And the way the 10 O'clock news headlined it was awful, too - a new book is being issued saying _____ & ______ & _____ about Walter Payton, and his family says that SOME of these are true!

I prefer to remember him as the player he was, his public dignity in the face of a terminal illness, and the stories about him playing "receptionist" on the phones at Halas Hall, answering the phones (in his admitedly "girly" voice), and talking to whoever called, those callers never realizing that it was WALTER PAYTON they talked to. What is the point of trashing someone's reputation this long after they're gone, and there's only the family to hurt?

Anybody who has a problem with former NFL players abusing prescription drugs should probably not watch the game, at least as a comfortable non-hypocrite, because your fandom is part of creating the atmosphere for the pain they are probably trying to suppress.

I am generally against elevating people to the status of idols by naming public places, buildings or institutions after them. (And when they are still around, it is particularly repulsive to me.) At the very least, it would be better to have some relevance to the core function: if it is a named school, perhaps after someone who excelled in or promoted academics.

I have yet to read anything beyond Jeff Pearlman's piece online in the Trib. But if we start to remove names of anyone who has had some skeletons in their past, we'd have to re-name 94% of our highways, schools and other public institutions.

Now, if it was St. Walter Payton High School, then I can see removing the "saint" designation.

I'd be perfectly fine with taking Walter's name off of ONE high school in Chicago as soon as we take Thomas Jefferson and George Washington's name off of EVERY school adorning it in EVERY city in America. Don't get me wrong, fathering a child out of wedlock & never bothering to personally interact w/ him isn't cool at all. But having owned slaves is a little worse.

I have to laugh at the complaint that owning slaves, which was common centuries ago in most parts of the world, disqualifies anyone from being honored. And Jackson didn't commit genocide; he did displace Indian tribes to other places, but most Indians died either from disease or from being slaughtered by other Indian tribes, with or without the white man's help.

"...but most Indians died either from disease or from being slaughtered by other Indian tribes.."

Yes, white men, like Jackson, spread disease amongst the Indians and forced them into territories occupied by antagonistic tribes, which promptly slaughtered them. Very helpful of the white man, don't you think? But just think of all the shanty homes provided to slaves after Indians were kicked out, quite altruistic of our former leaders.

You really don't know history, do you? Indians were slaughtering each other for millenia, and no, diseases were probably not deliberately introduced by the white man. And by the way, Indians were slaveholders as well. In fact, there is controversy today among some Indian nations about including descendants of their former slaves as nation members.

@Garry - interesting.
That being said, I've always thought that anyone wearing a 34 jersey or claiming to love Mr. Payton had better have a pretty good reason for not checking yes on their drivers license and informing their family that they want to be an organ donor. Whether a new liver would have saved him, the fact that he lingered on the transplant list illuminated a serious problem that particularly impacts minorities.

It seems we might be predisposed to hero worship. It's understandable, from the point of view of a name becoming a metaphor for something we appreciate, are grateful for, want emulated. As such, it focuses not on a whole person and not everything that person ever did, but on some significant part of his/her life's product. As long as we remember that, and do not turn it into idol worshiping (I think naming places moves us in that direction), such metaphors are useful. "George Washington" among other things, brings up the idea that a ruler need not be a ruler for life - one of the foundations of the American political system. "Jefferson" obviously evokes the Declaration of Independence, etc. Other facts about them do not change that. My guess is that "Walter Payton" metaphor - I let others decide what it is - is not affected by what we might be learning now.

@Patti: I'm pretty sure I read that Payton was excluded from a transplant fairly early into his ordeal because of the bile duct cancer. But let's hope his burden resulted in more people becoming donors and that at least one life has been saved because of it.

I'd keep Payton's name on the school if for no other reason than his family has done a lot of good for the community since he died. They've helped shape his legacy, so why not? And generally, I'm okay with naming things for people as long as 1) they are no longer living, and 2) the process isn't abused; there's no reason for one person to have multiple things named after them. For example, In the last month I've had to do a ton of driving through the Midwest, and I saw so many stretches of road named for Ronald Reagan that I wonder if he built them all himself.

Note to MCN: that's not a slam on Reagan; please spare me a corresponding tit-for-tat on Barack Obama.

Why not name a high school after him? An elite one? No, a far better canidate would be our president Barak Obama. This is an individual who's legacy will shine as a beacon of excellence to our children and future generations in Chicago and beyond.

"Parks, streets, gyms or even stadiums named for star athletes, sure — where, by the way, are the naming honors for Michael Jordan, arguably a more significant talent than Payton? — but schools are different."

Why? When most of the achievements by African-Americans have been in the sports field for most of the 20th century, due to discrimination in other fields of work, why can't they be considered for this honor in the naming of schools?

African-Americans received discrimination everywhere, including sports. There have been plenty of African-American lawyers, doctors, authors, scientists, engineers, etc. who are nowhere near as famous as sports figures but still had plenty of influence on the world. Of course there are plenty of white (and other races) people in the lsited fields who were important but not household names too.

Wendy C & Barry V:
They went & named a new elementary school after Jordan's father several years ago.
Why I'll never know.
It's in Rogers Park on the 7400 block of N. Wolcott.
Apparently they're now embarrassed by the name as they only use the last name & not the first name on everything.

While I don't particularly like the way we elevate athletics in school contexts as if it had anything to do with education, we name schools after lots of people who are known primarily or entirely for non-academic pursuits. High schools named after the likes of Marie Curie and Albert Einstein are the exception rather than the rule; mostly they're named after politicians and businessmen. As such, why not Walter Payton?

Also, as for this:

"where, by the way, are the naming honors for Michael Jordan, arguably a more significant talent than Payton?"

Let's see, Walter cheated on his wife, so he shouldn't have a school named after him. So I suppose you feel that Roosevelt and Kennedy shouldn't have schools named after them as well? Roosevelt also supported the bombing of Dresden. Washington and Jefferson owned slaves, so let's pull their names off as well.

@Wayne: It appears you're a historical revisionist.
There wasn't anything wrong with the bombing of Dresden!
Or have you forgotten that we were at war with the worst enemy anyone ever saw?

You are undoubtedly one of those who also condemn Truman for authorizing the use of the A-bombs on Japan. The two bombs killed at most, 200,000, while a full scale invasion of Japan was predicted to have 500,000 to 750,000 American deaths & most likely, 5 million to 10 million Japanese deaths!
You may not like that, but the A-bombs saved millions of lives!
In case you've forgotten or never knew, Japan refused to unconditionally surrender to the Allies & wanted an armistice, that would have left them in control of all of Korea & much of China.
You should also know that the US military was prepared to ask Truman to break the Geneva Convention & use poison gas if the invasion went poorly

I know this is way off topic, but I'm one of those that believes that all historical revisionists must be countered at all times & locations.

I believe John's column was just pandering to the typical football meatball. What makes Walter so special? For those asking why wait twelve years after his death, what exactly is the cutoff? I guess people have no business writing biographies of Elvis, the Kennedys, former dead presidents, etc.

COS is one of the few places where I can find an intelligent discourse and where I actually learn a thing or two. That said, I'm stunned by all the stupid comments echoing Kass' point of view.

I am just grateful that my daughter attended Walter Payton, she received a great education which propelled her to a good college.It was a little ironic that a school that didn't have a strong athletic program was named for Walter, but academically it is top-notch and that's what counts.

Garry, I always thought there was something odd about a guy his age having such a liver ailment. Your theory is quite plausible. A lot of people don't know that acetominophen can do a number on the liver, especially if alchohol is in the mix.

I thought I should mention that on 25th avenue in Bellwood, whcih I used to take to get to my job in Melrose Park (our plant since moved to Downers Grove and we're all happy), there was a high school named after Franklin Roosevelt which closed, with a new building constructed one block south. The old high school building was renamed the Thurgood Marshall Math and Science Academy.

Of course Thurgood Marshall is a household name, but I thought they would have named such a school after a scientist or mathematician instead.

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